Would like to find an inexpensive mini pc that would work good running umbrel and some of its apps, any good recommendations, thanks
I’m assuming cost is an important factor. Normally, I would suggest the GMKTec G3, but with RAM and SSD prices in crisis, the device itself that you install them into is becoming less and less important to the overall cost of the build.
I’m doing a “thinking outside-the-box” full node build which attempts to side-step these choke points (by properly configuring old-gen tech). When I finish that, I’ll test Umbrel on it and let you know what I find. Initial estimates are looking like it can be built for around $180 in the “USFF” form factor (i.e. tiny/mini PC)
Great, that being a good price point, what would the $300 range get me as far as a good setup. Would get me the Ram and SSD I
Would need for a good setup. Kinda want to use it for a server for AI contain within unbrel , I’m using an old Dell with intel core i5 pro 8th Gen.
Thanks
Tony
For AI, you need vRAM (unless you are using cloud models, in which case, the system specs are not terribly important). In the miniPC form factor, that really means a system with unified memory (since a standard GPU is bigger than the PC itself, haha)
Most people reach for the Mac Mini series, but they aren’t the only option for mini PCs with a unified memory architecture. The GMKtec EVO-X2 AI Mini PC, for example, can deliver similar specs for a lot lower price. The other option is refurbished Mac Minis. That said, the price for these systems ranges from $1,600 to $3,000+, depending on the amount of ram (64 GB on the lower end and 128 GB on the upper end)
For something in the $300 range, you are talking about using cloud AI models, in which case the system specs are going to be dominated by the requirements of the full node, not the AI work. This will be challenging if you want to run a full node and have a system that uses DDR4 (or DDR5) RAM and SSD storage. The minimum for RAM is 16 GB, and the minimum for storage is 2 TB. If you dial down the frequency of the RAM, the lowest price you can get 16 GB DDR4 is around $106 on Amazon, and the lowest price for 2TB SSD (if you go SATA instead of NVMe) is $190 (which would leave you only $4 for the device to install them into).
So I think the best bet for the $300 price range today (with the current RAM and SSD crisis) is to not go new on the RAM. Instead, get an older device that has 16GB DDR4 already installed in it, then buy it plus the 2TB SATA III SSD. One opition that i just built for another forum member which works for Start9 (and thus probably also Umbrel, since both are Debian under the hood) is the Lenovo ThinkCentre m710q Tiny, which you can usually find on eBay for around $150 - $170 (this one here, for example). Then you would get a cheap 2TB SATA SSD like this one here for around $190, which would put your total buld at around $360. Still over budget, but you might be able to shave off some of the price by bidding on the auctions rather than “Buy it now”.
If you are asking about my “thinking outside the box” build and investing a little more to improve on its specs, that one involves getting a device with DDR3 RAM (which has not been affected by the RAM crises currently), using a small SSD for the OS and a swap partition (to avoid file I/O on the data drive) and a large 2TB HDD for the data drive. Basically you install the OS on the SSD, add a 24GB+ swap partiton also on the SSD (resize the OS partition first if necessary to make room for it), and use the HDD for the data. The parts I am using in my proof of concept:
$40
16GB DDR3 RAM
$27
128GB mSATA SSD
$70
2TB 2.5" HDD
(plus taxes, charges, etc.)
This build maxes out at 16GB RAM, though, so no options to upgrade. If you wanted to go this route (and wanted a USFF/ tiny PC) then you’d have to research what options support more than 16GB DDR3 RAM (usually you need 4 RAM slots for that, which tend to come in the larger form factors)
I suppose you could go with a DDR4 option, but leveraging the small SSD + large HDD concept. Probably a variant on the Lenovo ThinkCentre m710q with 16GB RAM already installed could be worth exploring.